CLARKSVILLE — Sharla Goates Fultz didn’t grow up in Russellville wanting to be a beauty queen.

But her life’s circumstances gave her a message about being positive and understanding that the happenings, events and choices you make as a young person will be with you the rest of you life, and she thought that being Mrs. Arkansas would give her a platform to spread her message of being positive about life.

Fultz, who is a Russellville native and graduated from Russellville High School in 1997, is a second-grade teacher at Pyron Elementary School in Clarksville. She graduated from the University of the Ozarks, and she holds a master’s degree from Arkansas Tech University.

“My folks died when I was really young,” Fultz said. “But I decided I wasn’t going to let that get me down. ... I want to make a difference in the lives of other people. ... I want to let young people know that the choices they make today will effect them the rest of their lives.”

Fultz explained that she understands from her own experience how having a positive approach to live by helped her get to the place she is at today. And she also understands that having people there to help you is important.

She said after her parents died, many people in the community helped her in many ways, and being Mrs. Arkansas is just a way of giving back.

Fultz plans on spreading her positive message all over the state as she makes appearances speaking to groups and media in her role as Mrs. Arkansas.

The young teacher, who has two children, never envisioned herself strutting across a stage in an evening gown or answering questions from beauty pageant judges.

But a conversation or two with a former Mrs. Arkansas convinced Fultz to take the plunge and enter the pageant.

The phases of competition were interview, swimsuit, evening gown and an on-stage question.

“I had to lose weight, learn the process and even learn how to walk on stage,” she said with a laugh. “I had to interview one-on-one with five different judges, It was intimidating!”

As Mrs. Arkansas, she will compete in the Mrs. America Pageant in Tucson, Ariz., in the fall, plus she received an array of prizes, according to pageant spokesperson Lynn DeJarnette. The winner of Mrs. America will go on to compete for the title of Mrs. World.

“I was shocked to win it,” Fultz said with a laugh.

Fultz said her husband, Josh, has been supportive and encouraged her to enter the contest.

“He convinced me to do it,” she said.

Mrs. Arkansas will be in the Russellville Christmas parade in December and is staying busy appearing across the state.

In the past month since winning the crown, she has answered phones at an Arkansas Educational Television Network fundraiser, in Conway; spoken to kids in Fort Smith; been to a CARTI event; and been on radio programs in the Arkansas River Valley.